Imagine one day stepping off an international flight in Australia and breezing through the airport without having a single interaction with a customs or border officer.

Instead, the agents of the Home Affairs Department would be working behind the scenes, combining data analytics with traditional law enforcement techniques to ferret out nefarious actors, engaging only with select passengers they deem may be up to no good.

That is Michael Pezzullo's vision.

"We want to become less intrusive, ultimately less visible," the head of Australia's recently created Home Affairs super-department said.

In a rare interview on the sidelines of an international borders summit in Washington DC, Mr Pezzullo told the ABC he was aiming for an experience "where international travel feels much more like domestic travel" and border force officers have minimal contact with travellers.

"That allows them to really focus on the illicit activity — the narcotic importations and other nefarious activity including foreign fighter travel — where their talent and value to us and community is better expended," he said.

In a speech at the summit, Mr Pezzullo urged security agencies to "fundamentally rethink the security role of the state in a complex and highly connected world" while spruiking the benefits of agency interconnectedness.

"We need to integrate all of our tools of national power, including the cloak and the dagger, the data scientist and the detective, the border officer and the diplomat," he said.

Gotham City, no BatmanIn his speech, the head of one of Australia's most powerful departments urged nations to recalibrate their policies to account for a "darker" view of the global order.

While a more networked world "represents a net positive good for humanity", Mr Pezzullo warned that same connectivity was being exploited "on a global scale by non-state actors such as terrorists and transnational criminal networks".

Rather than a borderless post-Cold War world defined by shared values, he said what may have spawned is Gotham City — "where wealth, prosperity and positive human connections and relationships sit atop a dark underworld, where beneath the elevated roads, trains, and high-rise buildings resides misery, dysfunction and the dark heart of evil".

He warned in this world "Batman will not save us".

The race for dataRather than a masked superhero, Mr Pezzullo said he believed salvation may come in part though data.

From passenger ticketing, to cargo consignments, the world is awash with digital footprints.

"The question for us isn't so much about getting more data, it is about using the data that we already have," he told the ABC.

He said the challenge then was "making sense of that data and building the right models which allow us to discern both licit activity that we are not interested in and really hone our efforts on illicit, illegal and malicious activity".

In his speech, Mr Pezzullo likened the race for nations to acquire "artificial intelligence and highly advanced computational capabilities" as akin to the race for nuclear missiles during the Cold War, or for "naval mastery before the First World War".

Australia's Home Affairs Department was established in December 2017, combining the functions of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection with responsibilities previously under the Attorney-General's Department, the Department Of Infrastructure, the Department of Social services and from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

sounds like a good idea .... as long as peoples right to privacy isn't being breached.

FD.I hope that bitch who was running their brothels for them gets raped with a cactus.

I don't see any difference. A plane lands from UK and most people go through unhindered. A plane lands from Somalia and most people get checked. If anyone complains they still say there doing there job because they're supposed to.

I'm not so sure it's so much about racial profiling, and more about searching for certain words on your social media and email accounts.

FD.I hope that bitch who was running their brothels for them gets raped with a cactus.

I don't see any difference. A plane lands from UK and most people go through unhindered. A plane lands from Somalia and most people get checked. If anyone complains they still say there doing there job because they're supposed to.

I'm not so sure it's so much about racial profiling, and more about searching for certain words on your social media and email accounts.

I don't see any difference. A plane lands from UK and most people go through unhindered. A plane lands from Somalia and most people get checked. If anyone complains they still say there doing there job because they're supposed to.

I'm not so sure it's so much about racial profiling, and more about searching for certain words on your social media and email accounts.

I'm kinda alarmed you see nothing wrong with all of that.

we all do it, to some extent. If you see certain people walking towards you at night, you cross the road, with others you don't. It actually has some merit. It's only when it gets abused that it becomes a problem.

FD.I hope that bitch who was running their brothels for them gets raped with a cactus.